


The Hanamura Challenge

by Chisotahn



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-01
Updated: 2009-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-09 05:11:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisotahn/pseuds/Chisotahn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Total fluff - established relationship, Yosuke's paranoid about other people finding out. His efforts to get over himself don't quite work as planned. Minor November spoilers (for social link events, not plot) + spoilers for Yosuke's social link.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hanamura Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this prompt from LiveJournal: "soujixyosuke - established relationship, hidden from the rest of the investigation team. they're in public together having lunch, but are secretly on a date. souji keeps making comments about how cute yosuke is (and other like comments), as he likes to see him get flustered and freak out about how people may hear them. but yosuke doesn't leave because he likes souji too much." Also based on [this picture](http://i43.tinypic.com/dcui68.jpg).

Yosuke slumped against the wall of the train station, convinced that this was the absolute worst decision he had ever made. Not the part about being with Souji, of course - that part was fine, more than fine - but Yosuke was already embarrassed and heading for mortified, and Souji wasn't even here yet.

It had seemed like such a good idea, the night before. Ever since their friendship had deepened into something more, Souji had been the one to initiate pretty much everything. Even though Yosuke was pretty sure Souji didn't mind taking the lead, he also had this vague feeling that it wasn't really _fair_. They were supposed to be equal, after all. That, and it was starting to get really frustrating to be the one so hung up on everything, so constantly panicked that other people might find out.

The decision to call Souji the night before had been spur of the moment, a semi-desperate attempt at Getting Over Himself. The phone call had started out just fine, totally casual, as if he _wasn't_ asking his best friend out on a date - and then Yosuke had heard Teddie in the hallway, the telltale squeak of the bear's footsteps coming way too close to his door. And he'd panicked.

Of course.

Yosuke folded his arms grumpily and stared out at the fog-shrouded street in front of Okina Station. He hadn't even been brave enough to make the freakin' date in Inaba, because that would have added another level of 'oh-god-no' to the proceedings. On one hand, the city wasn't full of people he had to see every day.

On the other hand, the city was full of _people_, period. Yosuke resisted the urge to give everyone who came near him a suspicious look. This was stupid, _beyond_ stupid, and-

"You wouldn't want anyone to think we were dating or anything?"

Souji's voice was calm, amused, but Yosuke very nearly jumped right into the wall. He stumbled, managed to recover, and then glared at Souji; the other boy was standing a few feet away, watching him with one eyebrow raised and an extremely annoying half-smile on his face. "Don't _do_ that! Where the hell did you come from?" Yosuke spluttered.

"Inaba, obviously."

"... I hate you."

"Which is why you asked me on a date, right?"

"Shut up," Yosuke groaned, and grabbed at his infuriating kinda-sorta-maybe-boyfriend's arm. "Just... shut up, and let's go."

"I thought you asked Daisuke to come too?"

"No, I didn't - I didn't ask him, okay? Teddie was in the hall, and... nnnnrgh. Let's just _go_. Somewhere. Anywhere."

Souji finally took a step forward, and Yosuke hurriedly let go of his arm as they began walking down the sidewalk. "Well, there's the movie theater right over there..."

Yosuke resisted the urge to panic because that sounded like _a date_, since that was kind of the damn point of them being here in the first place and what was wrong with him, anyway? "Uh, yeah, that might work, er... what's showing?"

"Hm." Souji paused, squinting at the marquee; it was a little hard to read through the fog. "'Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Baseball'...?"

"Er..." That certainly sounded like a _manly_ sort of movie, the kind of thing you could totally see with a guy friend and not have it come across as... well, a date. But wasn't the whole point of this exercise to try and get over himself? Yosuke sighed. "Nah. Let's do something else. I'm not really that interested in baseball."

"Lunch, then?" Souji smiled.

"Y-yeah, let's go with that. Sure." Thankfully, the fog blurred and softened the people around them; it offered a sort of reassuring anonymity. Yosuke tried to calm down as he trailed Souji through the fog; the other boy kept stopping and waiting for Yosuke to catch up, so they could walk side-by-side. Still, it seemed like forever before Souji finally stopped in front of a small cafe - nothing fancy, just a standard eatery with a couple tables inside and a few empty ones out front. "How about this?"

Yosuke nodded; at this point, he didn't care if the cafe served Mystery Food X so long as the two of them could sit down and try to be... whatever it was they were. "Sure, yeah."

"Do you want to sit outside?" Souji continued.

"O-outside?!" Yosuke whirled, glancing at the shadowy shapes of people passing by; this wasn't a busy street, but there were still people walking past on a regular basis. "No!"

Souji glanced back at him. "There's no fog inside, you realize."

"... man, it sure is nice out here," Yosuke muttered, and quickly walked over to the most isolated table. He pulled out the chair in the corner and sat down, not bothering to scoot in to the table just yet. Souji followed him at a much more measured, casual pace, and that made Yosuke slightly annoyed and envious, all at once. The waitress appeared with menus almost immediately, but Yosuke couldn't even look at her; Souji took care of the pleasantries, and Yosuke only glanced up when he heard her footsteps retreating away from their table.

Souji was holding a menu out towards him, one eyebrow raised. "I think you'll find it a little difficult to eat when your chair is that far from the table."

Yosuke folded his arms over his chest and slumped down slightly in his chair. "Yeah, well, we haven't even ordered yet," he mumbled. This wasn't fun at all; he was fairly certain normal people didn't feel almost unbearably nervous and tense when hanging out with their... significant others.

_Yep. Worst decision ever._

"Come on, I don't bite," Souji said mildly, but there was a playful, amused expression on his face. "Unless you want me to."

"_No,_" Yosuke spluttered, and pulled his chair up to the table hard enough that his knees hit one table leg, making the entire thing rattle.

"Much better," Souji replied with a grin. "You know, you're cute when you blush."

Yosuke just stared at him, absolutely certain that his 'cute blush' was now visible from _space_. And of _course_ that was when the waitress chose to come back to their table; Yosuke did his best to hide behind his menu. He stared blankly at the menu items as Souji told the waitress that they needed a few more minutes. This was _stupid_, he was messing the whole thing up, and-

"Yosuke?"

Yosuke jumped slightly and peered over the top of his menu at Souji; the waitress had left again at some point, while he'd been too busy thinking to notice. "What?"

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Souji said, gently.

Yosuke blinked. Damn Souji, being so freakin' perceptive all the time- "No, I... rgh. Damnit," Yosuke sighed, letting his menu fall back onto the table. "Sorry. It's not your fault."

"It's okay," Souji reassured him, but as he picked up a menu, Yosuke leaned forward and snatched it out of his hand.

"No, it _isn't_," Yosuke insisted, trying to ignore the creeping paranoia that every obscured figure in the fog was watching them. "I just... I'm tired of this, Souji," he sighed, slumping down to rest his elbows on the table and bury his head in his hands.

There was a long pause. "Tired of what?" Souji said, after a moment, his tone still gentle. "Of me?"

"No!" Yosuke yelped, horrified; he looked up, met Souji's gaze and tried to communicate with his eyes what he was so damn _terrible_ at saying with words. "Absolutely _not_."

"Good," Souji replied, smiling, and Yosuke relaxed a little bit. "But...?"

"I'm tired of... me, I guess," Yosuke admitted, looking down at the table again. "Why is this so damn difficult? It's just _lunch_, I don't know why the hell..."

"What are you afraid of?" Souji said, after a moment.

Yosuke flinched. "I'm not-" But Souji was giving him that perceptive look again, and Yosuke sighed. "It's like... it's like I told you, way back when," he said, quietly. "Everybody in Inaba knows me, pretty much. I'm that weird Junes kid, and I always have to behave myself. Hell, you know I even got the police called on me after we fought on the riverbank!" And oh, hadn't _that_ been embarrassing, especially since Dojima-san had been the one to come to the Hanamura house and glower at him. "They talk about me enough as it is, I don't want to give them another excuse..."

Souji was silent for a few seconds. "If it bothers you that much, we can-" he began, slowly, but Yosuke shook his head sharply.

"_No_, I still want..." But he couldn't get those words out either, somehow, so he settled for reaching out under the table until he found Souji's hand; yet even though he initiated the contact, he still almost shied away when their fingers touched.

But Yosuke's frustration must have shown on his face, because Souji tilted his head to one side and squeezed Yosuke's fingers lightly before letting them go. "You're stressing way too much about this."

"I know," Yosuke admitted. "I don't want to do that anymore-" to be so edgy, so _scared_ all the time, to flinch away from Souji's touch just because of what other people might say if they knew.

"Being so self-conscious doesn't help," Souji pointed out. "It just attracts attention."

"Oh, yeah, fine. That's _really_ reassuring, Souji." Yosuke resisted the urge to glance around and see if anyone was watching. "That's why I called you last night. I was trying to get over it. Great plan, huh." He rolled his eyes, self-depreciating.

"Well, we're here now, aren't we?" Souji smiled. "It's a start."

"The most pathetic start known to man!"

"It still counts," Souji said.

"Heh." Yosuke sighed, then slowly smiled back. "I guess so. I guess I just need to work on my confidence, huh?"

"I don't care what people might think," Souji replied. "You're worth weathering anything that _anyone_ could possibly say."

Yosuke couldn't talk for a second, so instead he just nodded. "Y-yeah. So're you," he managed, once he found his voice again.

Souji grinned widely. "Hey, you didn't blush when you said that."

"I didn't?" Of course, that messed him up; he felt the telltale warmth spreading over his cheeks almost immediately. "Oh, damn it. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Souji said, innocently. "But, see? You just need practice. And... here's your next opportunity." Souji glanced back over his shoulder as he heard the cafe door open; the waitress was hurrying back towards them. "Think you can possibly stand to not hide under the menu this time?"

"I was not hiding under the menu," Yosuke protested. "And... I have no idea what I want," he realized, staring quickly down at said menu.

"You weren't even reading it while you hid? Sheesh." Souji shook his head, teasing, then turned again as the waitress came up to the table; the woman looked vaguely flustered, and Yosuke realized she'd been gone for quite some time.

"I'm sorry, we got very busy inside, and I forgot-" the woman began, but Souji waved off her apologies with a smile.

"Don't worry about it. We needed that extra time, anyway." He glanced back at Yosuke with a knowing look. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Yosuke said, grinning, and he wasn't just talking about the food... and if his cheeks were a little pink, Souji didn't mention it.


End file.
